JARRELL MCCRACKEN

The Game of Life (Word W-3298-LP) 1951

The worlds of religion and sports intersected for this unbelievable early ‘50s allegorical mock broadcast: a “thrilling play-by-play description of an imaginary football game between Christianity and The Forces of Evil”. The Game Of Life is the brainchild of Baptist pastor and onetime sportscaster Jarrell McCracken. With crowd sounds in the background (“the great cloud of witnesses”), McCracken introduces the two coaches, Jesus Christ and Satan. Soon you’re treated to a running commentary on the athletic exploits of Average Christian, along with his teammates and opponents bearing names like Prayer, Humility, Church Attendance, Bible Study, Temptation, Hypocrisy, Lukewarm, Criticism, Procrastination, Good Intentions, Faithfulness, Slanderous Talk, Willing Worker, and on and on. Average Christian becomes injured and appears to be out of the game. But no his strength becomes renewed to the strains of the pep band’s ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’. Later he heads down the ﬁeld in the wrong direction and has to be tackled by his own teammate Chastisement. Holy Spirit joins the game at the end and calls out the signals, allowing Average Christian to score the ﬁnal touchdown and win the game. The crowd roars. Numerous pressings exist including the original 78 RPM, a 45, and a 10-inch lp on red vinyl. Later 12-inch pressings added spoken testimonies of several Christian athletes who bust heads for Jesus out on the playing ﬁeld. A worthy bookend to the equally fascinating Flight F -I-N-A -L. (The Archivist, 4th edition by Ken Scott).